Vehicle-drying apparatus

ABSTRACT

A portal frame, movable with reference to a vehicle to be dried, carries a pair of nozzles which are mutually offset in the direction of motion and are trained upon opposite slides of a vehicle entering the frame. The nozzles can be swung and/or shifted to blow upon the top of the vehicle in one traverse and upon its lateral surfaces in another traverse.

United States Patent 1 Capra 11] 3,742,615 [451 July 3, 1973 VEHICLE-DRYING APPARATUS [76] Inventor: Uberto Capra, Alte Ceccato, Italy 221 Filed: Feb. 18, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 227,502

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 3,459,203 8/1969 Pritchard 34/229 3,613,255 10/1971 Capra 34/229 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS I 1,962,818 6/1971 Germany l5/DIG. 2

Primary Examiner-Kenneth W. Sprague Assistant Examiner-James C. Yeung Attorney-Karl F. Ross [57] ABSTRACT A portal frame, movable with reference to a vehicle to be dried, carries a pair of nozzles which are mutually offset in the direction of motion and are trained upon opposite slides of a vehicle entering the frame. The nozzles can be swung and/or shifted to blow upon the top of the vehicle in one traverse and upon its lateral surfaces in another traverse.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Apr. 14, 1971 Italy 23179 A/71 [52 US. Cl. 34/229, 34/222 [51] Int. Cl. F26! 19/00 [58] Field of Search 34/222, 229, 243 C; l5/DIG. 2, DIG. 7, 405; 239/184-187; 222/3; 134/123 [56] i References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,016,125 10/1935 Snow 34/229 PAIENIEnJuLa I975 sum 1 or 2 FIG. I

PAIENTEB JUL 3 I973 FIG. 2

1 VEHICLE-DRYING APPARATUS My present invention relates to an apparatus for force ibly drying automobiles or other vehicles in a fixed or mobile vehicular washing station, e.g., as described in my prior U.. Pat. No. 3,613,255. v

In such installations it is known to support the drying nozzle or nozzles on a portal frame which straddles the path of a vehicle to be dried and which is movable with a reference to the vehicle either by displaceably mounting the frame on a wheeled base or by letting the vehicle move slowly through the stationary frame.

Conventional systems of this type, designed to dry both the top and lateral surfaces of a vehicle at the same time, require powerful and therefore relatively costly blowers as their source of drying air. It is also necessary, in order to increase the efficiency of the blower system, to bring the nozzle outlets as close as possible to the vehicular surfaces; this complicates the designing of sensor-controlled suspension means for automatically raising and lowering the nozzles in accor dance with the height of the vehicle.

The general object of-my present invention is, therefore, toprovide a simplified and low-cost drying apparatus for the purpose set forth.

More particularly, my invention aims at providing a system wherein only two nozzles, of reduced; d-imen: sions as compared with conventional devices, are.

. needed to sweep the entire vehicular surface.

In accordance with, this invention, a pair of nozzles on a portal frame or equivalent support are trained upon a vehicle from, opposite sides and; are provided with a mechanism for displacingsame between. a first and a second position, by. translatory and/or rotary movement, to sweep the top. surface. ofrthe vehicle duringv one. traverse of its path andrespective lateral surfaces thereof during another (earlier or later) traverse. Thus, during each. traverse. the two nozzles are trained; upon only a portion of the vehicular surface so that their combined; power. may be low; the relatively narrow air stream issuingfrom each nozzle need not diverge very rapidly from the nozzle. outlet so that each nozzle may remain well spaced from the surface to be dried. It is, therefore, possible to mount the two nozzles the offset should be equalto-or greater than the effec-.

tivewidth ofeachnozzle whose outlet isIpreferablyof: rectangularshape withits major sides perpendicular. tothedirection of motion, i.e., to the. vehicular path,

Especially in thecase of a washing. station, designed toaccommodate. vehicle s widely .varyingin. height, suchv as small passenger cars and large trucks, thev nozzles could. be suspended for. limited raising or lowering v under thecontrol of, suitable sensors, e.g-., as, described inmy.prior.U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,255; inthe side-drying. position, the nozzles could also be lowered so as to strike the. lateral surfaces of the vehicle more nearly. perpendicularly.

The above and other features of my invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front-elevational view of a drying apparatus embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing a modification; and l FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line lII III of FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1 I have shown a drying installation for freshly washed automotive vehicles, including a portal frame with jambs 2 and a lintel 4 straddling a vehicle V to be dried. The frame has a wheeled base riding on two rails 3 for reciprocating displacement, by drive means not further illustrated, in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.

Two air blowers 5 and 5', terminating in respective nozzles 6 and 6', are suspended from lintel 4 with the aid of an elevatabl'e support 7 hanging on cables 8 which are led over rollers 9 to a capstan 10, the support 7 forming a pair of pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders or jacks with pistons ll, 11' respectively engaging the blowers 5 and 5'. Although, for the sake of simplicity, these blowers have been illustrated as simply carried by the piston rods, the support 7 may form a horizontal guide track therefor which has not been illustrated. 2 Either or both nozzles may be provided with sensors, as diagrammatically illustrated at 12 for the nozzle 6', used for detecting the proximity of a vehicle surface and actuating the drive of capstan 10 to raise or lower the support 7 to vary the nozzle level in conformity therewith; sensor 12 may be a switch-controlled flap of the type disclosed in my above-identified prior patent.

in the position A, A illustrated in full lines in FIG 1-, the axes of nozzles 6 and 6' are substantially trained upon the centerline of an upper surface of the vehicle V to be dried, such as the top of-the hood or the roof of the car. The two nozzles are relatively staggered, in a manner more fully described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 3, as by being respectively mounted forwardly and rearwardly of the portal frame 1. In this position A, A each nozzle is highly effective in drying the proximalhalf of that upper surface and also assists the other nozzle in drying the distal half. In order to sweep the lateral surfaces of the vehicle, the nozzles are moved laterally outwardly into the alternate position B, B" (dot-dash lines) by extension of the pistons 11 and 11.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in which corresponding elements have been designated by the same reference numerals, the nozzles 6- and 6' (together with their blowers 5; and 5) could also be reoriented by a swinging motion about respective pivots X and Y. Thus, in posi tion. C, C illustrated in full lines, the nozzles again sweep the top of the vehicle (hood, roof and trunk) whereas in their alternate position D, D their jets are trained-upon respective sides. The displacement from one position to the other is here effected by a pneumatic orhydraulic jack 7, shown only for the unit 5-, 6-, whichmay be controlled manually or automatically in thesame manner as jack 7 (FIG. 1) in timed relationship with the frame drive to sweep the car from the sides and from the top (not necessarily in that order) in successive traverseszThe two blowers can be interconnected by a common linkage, not shown, for joint motion in opposite directions; they could also be pro- 1 could also be used in connection with swingable blowers, such as those shown in FIG. 2, to raise or lower the nozzles according to the height of the vehicle to be dried.

FIG. 3 shows the rectangular outline of the nozzles 6 v and 6' as well as their relative offset by a distance z which exceeds the effective nozzle width z.

Owing to the limitation of the width of the air stream issuing from these nozzles, the blowers and 5" need not be as powerful as, say, in the system of my earlier patent and the sensing means 12, if provided, need not maintain a close spacing between these nozzles and the vehicle surface. Thus, the improved drying apparatus according to my present invention is simpler to construct, cheaper to operate and less expensive to maintain than comparable equipment of the prior art.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for drying freshly washed vehicles, comprising:

a support above the path of a vehicle to be dried;

a pair of nozzles on said support connected to a source of drying air, said nozzles being trained upon said vehicle from opposite sides of said path; and

mechanism for displacing said nozzles for training 4 same in a first position upon a top surface of said vehicle during one traverse of said path and in a second positionupon respective lateral surfaces of said vehicle during another traverse.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said nozzles are relatively offset in the direction of said path.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said support comprises a portal framestraddling said path.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said support further comprises movable suspension means for said nozzles on said frame, said nozzles being provided with sensing means coupled with said suspension means for automatically varying the level of said nozzles in conformity with the height of said vehicle.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said nozzles are disposed near respective comers of said frame with their axes directed in said first position substantially upon the centerline of said top surface.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said nozzleshave outlets of generally rectangular crosssection with major sides transverse to said centerline.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said nozzles are relatively offset, in the direction of said path, by a distance equal to at least the minor sides of said cross-section. 

1. An apparatus for drying freshly washed vehicles, comprising: a support above the path of a vehicle to be dried; a pair of nozzles on said support connected to a source of drying air, said nozzles being trained upon said vehicle from opposite sides of said path; and mechanism for displacing said nozzles for training same in a first position upon a top surface of said vehicle during one traverse of said path and in a second position upon respective lateral surfaces of said vehicle during another traverse.
 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said nozzles are relatively offset in the direction of said path.
 3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said support comprises a portal frame straddling said path.
 4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said support further comprises movable suspension means for said nozzles on said frame, said nozzles being provided with sensing means coupled with said suspension means for automatically varying the level of said nozzles in conformity with the height of said vehicle.
 5. An apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said nozzles are disposed near respective corners of said frame with their axes directed in said first position substantially upon the centerline of said top surface.
 6. An apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said nozzles have outlets of generally rectangular cross-section with major sides transverse to said centerline.
 7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said nozzles are relatively offset, in the direction of said path, by a distance equal to at least the minor sides of said cross-section. 